Maglev Apparatus for Power Minimization and Control of Artificial Hearts

This project is directed at the third generation of heart pumps being developed in commercial research laboratories which employ feedback-controlled magnetically levitated pump impellers. Unique features of the control problem are the quasi-periodic pressure disturbances of the natural heart and nonlinearities of the magnetic levitation system. The main motivation for this paper is the power consumption due to quasi-periodic pressure disturbances from the natural heart. Since clinical studies are not possible for the vast majority of our work, there is a need for an apparatus to simulate the Left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD) for controller design. Inspired by this need, we design a novel experimental apparatus to study the Maglev LVADs. We develop a nonlinear model, then a linearized model followed by simulation and stabilization of the closed loop system using a Virtual Zero Power (VZP) controller.